Sage Advice: Mudras for Attention

I am writing to ask you a very interesting question that a student posed to me this morning. I recently taught an apana mudra (index finger tucked, middle and ring touching thumb, pinky out) to facilitate deep breathing. I’m also a runner and one of my runner students asked me if having your fingers in that mudra while running would help the breath. What are your thoughts?

I think that the best way to help your breath is to pay attention, and that if the mudra reminded you to pay attention, then it’s worthwhile. As long as the hands can stay relaxed, it might be a sweet secret cue to the runner to keep the breath flowing.

Do you have any self-cues that remind you to use your best form and breaths?